Weekly Wrap-Up: February 12, 2018

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Toronto Marlies

The Toronto Marlies swept a busy three-in-three weekend, defeating divisional foes in both Belleville and Binghamton to extend their point streak to sixteen games and give the Marlies seven straight wins.

The action started Friday night in Belleville with the Marlies and Senators facing off in a Battle of Ontario matchup. The Marlies jumped out to a quick start with Miro Aaltonen and Martin Marincin striking in the first five minutes to put the Marlies ahead by two, but Belleville responded and tied things up by the end of the opening period.

Ben Smith recaptured the lead midway through the second, but again the Senators had a quick response. From there, the Marlies struck three times in quick succession with goals from Chris Mueller, Aaltonen and Mason Marchment to take a 6-3 lead into the final frame. Marchment added a second goal for insurance as the Marlies skated to a 7-4 win over their provincial rivals.

The Marlies were back in action against Binghamton the next day, hosting the Devils at Ricoh Coliseum for the first time since they relocated from Albany. Neither team could get on the board in the first but the Marlies struck first on an Andrew Nielsen goal in the second.

Rinat Valiev added another one early in the third before the Devils responded to close the gap to 2-1. Frederik Gauthier added an empty net goal to seal the 3-1 victory on Star Wars Day.

The second half of the back-to-back against Binghamton saw more offense than Saturday’s game with the Devils opening the scoring late in the first. Nikita Soshnikov scored his seventh of the season less than three minutes later to tie things up at 1-1 at the intermission.

The Devils reclaimed the lead early in the second, but the Marlies went on to score three unanswered goals in the middle frame, powered by Colin Greening, Kerby Rychel and Rinat Valiev. In the third, Greening scored his second of the night to close out a 5-2 victory and give the Marlies a 5-0-0-0 record against Binghamton so far this season.

The Marlies return to action on Friday in Belleville for another meeting with the Senators. From there, they will head to Laval and take on the Rocket.

With a 37-11-0-1 record, the Marlies currently hold the top spot in the American Hockey League. On special teams, the Marlies went 2-for-12 on the power play and 8-for-8 on the penalty kill. The Marlies have not allowed a power play goal against in nine straight games.

Frederik Gauthier finished the week with a goal and two assists, extending his point streak to four games. Andreas Johnsson had five assists over the weekend giving him points in six straight games.

Chris Mueller has four-game point streak going after earning a goal and four assists this weekend. Ben Smith is also on a four-game point streak, with one goal and two assists over the weekend.